The top reasons to get certified other than increased salary

It is no secret that the world is experiencing a technology invasion across all sectors. Whether it’s education, farming, medicine, finance, travel or another industry, technology is happening. At the same time, the rapid pace at which the usage of smart devices, internet, and the volume of data are growing means that many non-technological job positions are also becoming obsolete, as the demand for professionals who can deal with the planning, development, deployment, and maintenance of devices, applications, systems, and hardware continues to increase.

Every organization is feeling the pinch to have a dedicated team or a small group of IT professionals who can use technology to assist with daily operations and long-term activities. And most employers tend to look for a certification on your CV to help them quickly validate your skills and knowledge. Is this not a big enough reason for you to get certified?

IT professionals may argue that motivation levels will be high to gain certification in any area since certifications help you achieve significant salary hikes. There are many other good reasons, however, to get certified.

Let’s take a glimpse at five popular reasons, besides increased salary, to earn IT certifications.

International opportunities

During your IT career, you will likely wish to be able to work from your company’s foreign branch office or client location on distant shores. While the same may depend on your project or company requiring IT professionals to work onsite, it is important that, when the opportunity arises, you are the one being selected.

If you are pitted against your peers at work for these coveted and limited overseas work opportunities, an IT certification has the potential to tilt the scales in your favor. Additionally, several IT certifications are standardized across the globe. In other words, many of these certifications and related skills are recognized globally.

Thus, you can get your existing employer to appreciate or value your certification and so provide you with international exposure in the international branch offices. Alternatively, you can look out for other global employers in the market who may hire you, with your certification and related expertise as one of the most important selection criteria.

Career-long learning

Once you realize that life is a neverending learning process, you will become a better individual, personally and professionally. The great thing about earning IT certifications is that they enable you to continue with your learning process at any stage of your professional career. Not only can you upgrade your existing IT skills by getting certified in a particular niche, you can even acquire new and more useful skills.

Because new developments and technologies are evolving frequently in IT, one cannot afford to sit back and be satisfied with your existing skill set. Without upgrading skills or getting them validated through certifications, it will be tough to stay ahead of the competition. To top it all off, certifications help you develop a significant amount of scope for innovative learning, intellectual stimulation, and professional growth.

All companies are continuously trying to do more with less and when they start laying off employees due to slow growth or budgetary problems, they are more likely to axe experienced professionals who only possess expertise in one particular IT area. Junior replacements for such employees can be arranged easily.

If you’ve developed the habit of getting certified, however, you will possess multiple skills and will not simply rely on just one skill to progress through your career. Possessing multiple skill-sets ensures that you are useful to your organization in more ways than one, making it less likely that management will sack you to save money.

Climb the corporate ladder

While salary is a big motivator for any professional to stay loyal to a company, the type of work and job position are equally important. The cream rises to the top they say, and skilled employees typically have a desire to move up in their company. Having a certification will assist you in getting your promotions on time and before non-certified peers.

During your annual performance reviews, you are often pitted against those employees who have similar experience and skills. It is often the additional things that you do (like certification) which sets you apart from the others! The proper certifications can play a big role in getting you closer to your dream job position or profile.

Develop an overall IT business perspective

As an IT professional, you will have to work with different teams of varied expertise. For example, an IT developer must work seamlessly with the testing team or the functional team to ensure the right work is done at the right time, with a minimum of possible iterations.

So, if you are only aware of your own work and do not understand how the other teams with which you coordinate or integrate work, you may be less efficient. It is here that certifications in areas that develop your overall understanding of IT processes will prove most useful.

For example, being certified in IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) means that you know about the defacto standard for IT service management. It also exposes you to the various best practices and aligns your IT strategy to your business’s overall vision.

Meet the demand for particular skills

Big data analysis and cloud computing are emerging at a very fast pace. Owing to the numerous benefits that they offer, companies have already started embracing them willingly. With the advancement of the cloud and practices like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), the demand for secure data and systems is constantly increasing.

Because these technologies are still quite new to the IT industry, however, there is not enough talent available in organizations. So, employees with the ability to handle cyber security and the cloud can prove to be a real asset for any IT department. For IT pros who desire to be in high-demand, it makes perfect sense to opt for certifications in areas that are on the rise and desired among IT companies.

Besides increased earning power, there are a lot of good reasons to earn an IT certification. They all tend to lead to greater job satisfaction and being in higher-demand by employers; and ironically, in the end, more money.

I hope that the above listed reasons for getting certified in the IT industry motivate you to keep validating or upgrading your skills. Please feel free to share your queries or feedback in the comments section below!

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Paroma Dey is a freelance technical writer with more than nine years of experience and specializes in writing on enterprise technology. She previously worked for IBM handling large-sized IT project coordination and management.